Musk likely to face tough questions during SpaceX's first earnings call as a public company

NEW YORK (AP) — Investors in Elon Musk's space company get a chance to question him Tuesday after SpaceX issues its first quarterly earnings since going public.

SpaceX shares are down by half from their June peak as investors worry Musk may have oversold them on its future prospects. They're also bracing for volatile trading as some company insiders get the opportunity to sell shares after the expiration of what's known as a lockup provision later in the week.

Part visionary engineer, part stock salesman, Musk is likely to be asked about when he expects to finish testing SpaceX's giant Starship rockets that NASA hopes to use to put men on the moon again, his plans for its satellite network and the prospects of putting football-field sized datacenters in orbit.

Given rumors of SpaceX possibly merging with Musk's Tesla car company, he may also face questions about that tie-up but that is likely to yield few details. Neither company has confirmed plans for a combination and Musk has parried questions before by noting securities regulations bar him from discussing the issue.

SpaceX is losing money fast, with net losses for its first half this year expected to exceed more than the $5 billion in losses for all of last year. Some analysts have penciled in a strong rebound for the rest of the year that will return it to profitability.

For the second quarter ended June, SpaceX is expected to report a net loss of $1.9 billion, or 23 cents a share, according to a FactSet survey of analysts.

SpaceX insiders were barred from selling in the public offering in June but that prohibition begins to ease on Thursday when more than 900,000 shares are released for trading, more than doubling the amount currently available for trading. The prospect has weighed on the shares, which closed Monday at $114.46, down from both the peak of $225 in June and also the IPO price of $135.

The lockup release is the first of several tranches of stock that will be freed to trade over the next several months.

After an abandoned launch, the Starship rocket successfully deployed satellites in orbit during a test late last month. Future tests could include trying to use giant arms at its Starbase launching site in Texas to grab the rocket and its booster upon its hovering return to earth.

SpaceX's satellite communication business, Starlink, is a big cash generator for the company with contracts around the world. The company also runs a money-losing AI business, known for its Grok tool, as well as the social media platform X, the rennamed Twitter.